Saxon/Doro –
Royal Concert Hall. Nottingham, Saturday 10th November, 2018
Set List: Earthshaker Rock/I Rule The Ruins/Burning The Witches/Raise Your Fist In The Air/Blood Sweat And Rock 'N' Roll/Fur Immer/All We Are/All For Metal.
Doro Pesch is hitting 35 years in the music industry as former vocalist of Warlock and since the 1990s as a solo singer, being the first woman to front a band at Donington Monsters of Rock some achievement!
Supporting Saxon on second half of their UK tour, she wasted no time in hitting the stage running 'Earthshaker Rock' from 1985's 'Hellbound' album the crowd gave her a warm, welcome! Always smiling, her long blonde hair flying everywhere as she headbanged during guitar solos.
A little riffing of 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' led into 'All We Are' with Doro acknowledging the fists raised on the front row, briefly grabbing a few. The band are tight,even though space is minimal on stage guitarists managed to run around a little. Finishing a tight set with new album track 'All For Metal', Doro showed they certainly know how to give headliners a run for their money.
With a UK solo tour lined up for next March, Doro shows no sign of slowing down.
Set List: Thunderbolt/Sacrifice/Nosferatu (The Vampire Waltz)/Motorcycle Man/Predator/Strong Arm Of The Law/Battering Ram/Power And The Glory/Solid Ball Of Rock/The Secret Of Flight/Dallas 1PM/They Played Rock And Roll/And The Bands Played On/747 (Strangers In The Night)/Sons Of Odin/Crusader/Princess Of The Night.
Encore 1: The Eagle Has Landed/Heavy Metal Thunder.
Encore 2: Wheels Of Steel/Denim And Leather.
Saxon have been going longer even than Doro and fly the flag for NWOBHM in touring UK on a regular basis - this being one of numerous visits to Nottingham over the years. The AC/DC intro tape heralded their bombastic entrance and firing into 'Thunderbolt' from most their recent album.
Biff Byford in long trench coat, his long white hair standing out against it's black colour rocking hard and heavy has as been Saxon’s bread and butter for their entire career and they do it with style. Bassist, Nibbs Carter threw shapes jumping around whilst Co-Guitarist, Paul Quinn, kept the riffs coming.
This was all underpinned by the double bass drum of Nigel Glockler. Saxon packed in their well known songs during the long set that included 'Wheels Of Steel' ,'747 (Strangers In The Night)' as well as 'And The Bands Played On'.
The pace was slowed down a few notches for ‘Sons Of Odin’ which then ran into ‘Crusader’ all lapped up by the faithful finishing on a mass sing-along of 'Denim And Leather' shows the old ones are the best.
8/10
By Mark Bedford